Here in Lesotho

I have had an eventful week here in Lesotho.  I have had a great time getting to know the area and what kind of job I will be doing in the school for the next year.   It has taken quite a bit to get used to how the school is run down here, very different than else where that I have experienced.  My host family is a lot of fun, even if I do not understand them most of the time.  The weather is not quite as cold as I fear but still cool.

This week, my first week on the job, I was asked to fill in for the Grade 5 teacher who was going into town for an appointment.  I was a quite worried at the time about how the day would run.  I covered for the teacher on Thursday and on Wednesday after school I did not even know the regular routine.  I had to ask about what time lunch happened, which is different for each class, I also had no idea when school got out for the day.  So I went to the principal and had a whole list of questions that I had.  I also made sure that I had an exit plan for if the class was not listening at all.  The teachers here use corporal punishment and I was afraid that the kids would not listen to me because I would not punish them. 

The day went well, the morning much better than the afternoon.  First thing in the morning I taught them Math, multiplication of money, and marked their compositions (moqoqo is SeSotho, two click in the word).  Then I tried to teach them about Canada but they did not seem too interested. Then I taught them about the Lesotho Highlands Dam project, which is a set of dams to transfer water to South Africa. They loved that I had posters to show them and they were really interested in the topic.  Then after lunch I tried to teach them Slang.  I realized that they did not know many of the phrases that I would say to them.  So I decided to teach them those phrases.  For 2 hours I tried to explain and show the difference between “How are you doing” and “What are you doing”. I would not let them leave for home until they could answer the questions.  It caused a bit of confusion at the end of the day.

On regular days I look after the library during the break time where kids can come and read.  I apparently am very strict with the kids.  I did not realize it but I do not let them even try to goof off so they listen to me quite nicely.

My host family have a wonderful house over looking the whole valley.  I have a room to myself that has a double bed, so my room here is as nice if not nicer than at home in Canada. They have an outhouse, but it does not smell as bad as the ones up at Silver Lake so it is not bad at all, though it is a little bit short so I can not stand up in it. There is a wonderful garden with lots of peach trees.

My host family consists of three people, and a whole bunch of neighbours who always visit.  I have a Nkhono, or host mother, who is very impressed that I can cook and clean.  I have a host brother who is in grade five at the school I work at. I also have a host sister who is in grade 8 at the high school.  Every night there are numerous people to come and visit the house to come and say hi.  I have not learned many of their names but am starting to.  Most of the time I do not understand what they are talking about either as it is all in SeSotho, but I can usually understand what the conversation is about by their brief English explanations.

The house is apparently two villages away from the school; but it only takes me around 15 mins to walk between home and school.  I have also found out from my host brother that I walk really fast.  Yesterday on the way to school he was making fun of the way that I walk.   I do not really mind the walk because it is so beautiful here.

The weather is quite nice here actually.  I find that I have to wear lots of layers to bed, lots.  I wear long johns (two layers) and then I am under 3 big blankets. Under all of the layers I stay nice and warm.  I wear numerous layers in the morning and then slowly take them off during the day, but by the time night comes along the layers need to be put on again.  Many people ask me if I am cold and when I say no people look at me like I am crazy.  I explain about how cold Canada gets and then I get a whole bunch of funny expressions as I am explaining.    

I know this post was long and will put pictures up with my next one, I have not had the time to download any of my pictures yet. I also does not look quite like my background picture on my blog, I will up date that as well.

Heading to Lesotho

This week has been quite a busy week.  We have spent most of the time here inside of the old prison.  It actually does not feel much like a prison, though I have never been to an active one so I do not have any frame of reference.  While we are here we did some sessions about the policies of MCC and how to do accounting for the items that we buy.  We also got to ride on the Combies, or the mini buses, we only took a short trip downtown then a quick ride back to the Prison.  We also went to the museum for the area so we had a better understanding of the local history.  

Then this afternoon we went on a Safari, not really we just walked around a game reserve.  It was awesome I saw over 10 new bird species, my total number for the trip is around 36.  We also saw a family of Giraffes.  It was amazing how cool it was to see them.  There was no fence in our way but we did stay a ways back because there was a small baby and we did not want to startle them.  There were also Impala, Wildebeest and Zebras there as well.  The birds we saw were quite a range, there was an eagle and many small birds flying around.  I am glad that I looked through my bird book before I came over here. 

The Giraffes when we first saw them.  There were Zebras in front of them and Wildebeests to the left.

Here you can see the younger Giraffes, they are on the right hand side.  The baby Giraffe is quite small and was running and playing around.

We are going to leave for Lesotho tomorrow morning.  It will be an early morning, leaving at 6am. The ride should be fun, there is a whole group of us going.  There is Abby and I who will be staying in Lesotho for SALT, and Festus and Hannah who will be coming with us and then heading back to South Africa to work/volunteer here.  We will be stopping for cool birds and apparently there is a section were monkeys like to eat the food that has been dropped from passing truck.  It should be fun


I should mention how the weather will be like when we arrive in Lesotho.  Now here in Pietermaritzburg the weather is wonderful.  It has been warm and sunny, though one day it was a little bit drizzly but not too bad.  In Maphutseng Valley it will be quite cold for the next few weeks, hopefully just a few.  According to the internet the temperature the first night we are there is going to be going down to -1C.  On the right hand side of my blog there should be a reading of the weather I am experiencing in Lesotho.  And with no central heating it will be quite cold, I am glad that I brought so many layers, I might have to wear them all on Thursday.  

In South Africa

I have made it to South Africa, currently I am at Project Gateway in Pietermaritzburg.  It is the location for the MCC office for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.  We, the SALTers, are going to be staying here for a week to have some specific in-country training.  We are going to have a fairly relaxed few days at first and then we will start getting into the information parts.

Our flights to South Africa were quite uneventful, we did not miss any flight and most of them got in early.  The flights were long, 18 hours on one plane was kind of annoying but we got through it.  It was nice that there were empty seats near us and we were able to spread out.  We a short layover in Jo-burg, which was nice break from the planes.  Our last flight we were given a snack, and it was quite nice. Unlike in North America the snack was wonderful.  It was a wrap with veggies and meat and a small cup of mousse.  It was called a "Snack Meal".

Project Gateway is an interesting church based non-profit organization, which is supported and controlled by the local community churches.  It is based in an old historical jail.  Yup I am currently staying in a jail.  The jail buildings have renovated and it is now a very nice location.  There is a computer literacy center to teach people basic computer skills, a SALTer named Jesse is going to be working with that part. 

Getting Ready to Fly

I am getting ready to head out on my flight to South Africa. The week here in Akron, PA feels like it has gone by so fast but I also feel like I have know my friends here for such a long time. I guess that is what happens when you spend all of your waking hours with the same people.  Here in Akron there are not only young Adults being trained to go overseas there are also young adults coming from around the world to come and serve in North America.

I realize for many of the people who will be reading my blog MCC is a confusing organization.  So here is some basic information background information for you.  If you would like to find more information about these programs click on the names which are links. 
MCC - Mennonite Central Committee -  Is an international organization works for relief, development and peace in the name of Christ.  The focus on relationships between people and partner organizations.
SALT is a program that brings North American's to volunteer through MCC through out the world.  SALT stands for Serving and Learning Together, participants do not go over to a different country with all of the answers but go to learn as well.
YAMEN (Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network) is a program where MCC gets young adult volunteers from the global south and places them in volunteer positions through out the Global South. 
IVEP (International Volunteer Exchange Program) is a program where MCC find young adult volunteers from around the world to serve in North America.

While I have been in Akron I had a wonderful roommate, Rorisang, from Lesotho who will be doing his IVEP time in Abbotsford BC.  His home community is Qacha's Nek, which is located around 4 hour drive from Maphuts'eng Valley (were I will be living this next year).  He has been a great roommate and we have learned a lot from each other.  I have been giving pointers about Canadian Culture and language differences.  While he is trying to teach me his language, which has some sweet sounds to learn. In words with a 'q' those are clicks in which you pronounce the vowel after the q when you make the click. I am having problems with 'qa' sound,  I am making more a 'qna' sound instead.

I have met the person who will be serving in the Maphuts'eng valley with me next year.  Her name is Abby and she is going to be working at Growing Nations in the field of conservation farming.  We have the same type of humor and I think we are going to get a long.  Rori has been teaching both of us to do some of the traditional Basotho dances. I must have to admit I was one of the first people that Rori tried to teach and I was one of the last people to catch on.  The type of dancing is mostly about making beats by hitting your legs or stomping.  When you hit our legs in different places they make different sounds, this is accented by wear a certain type of paints and Gumboot.

Here is a video of us dancing out side after quite a bit of practice:

Video of Sesotho Dancing

I am currently in the Harrisburg airport waiting for my flight to Washington on my 30 hour journey.  There are 5 of us heading down to Durban, there we will have around a week of orientation specific to the countries that we are going to.  All of the other SALTers will be staying in South Africa, while one of the YAMENers is staying in South Africa while the other is going to Swaziland.

My Fellow SALTers on the way to South Africa (in front of an A380)

I did not get a great night sleep because I was getting up at all a hours to say good bye to my friends that I made during our short week together.  Here at the Harrisburg Airport we had the chance to see many other SALTers and IVEPers go on their way.  The plane to Toronto is one of the smallest commercial planes I have ever seen.  Only 18 seats and each time there are SALTers we seem to make up a large part of the plane.

 SALTers and IVEPers on the way to their placements in Harrisburg Airport

My Last Day in Canada

It is my last day in Canada, I can hardly believe it.  I have been talking about going overseas for years now, and it was always something that was going to happen in the future.  Now the future is here, only 12 hours left in Canada, if no issues arise.

I did have one issue that did come up as I was packing.  I did such a good job of organizing all of my stuff it was fairly easy to pack my things.  But then I realized, with my mom's help, that I had put everything that was heavy in one bag and left the other bag nice and light.  I could barely lift one of the bags while the other was no heavier than my carry on bags.  After a few repackings I was able to make both of the bags around equal and hopefully under the weight limit for flying.

I am heading to bed as I have to get up quite early tomorrow, around 5 so that we can be at the airport in plenty of time.  I fly from London to Toronto, where I have to go through US customs.  Hopefully all goes well, I only have around an hour to change planes.  Then I am on another short flight to Harrisburg where there are only 8 other people on the flight with me.  Not the smallest plane I have been on, but quite small.

I should also mention that the weather in Lesotho is going to be quite cold when I get down there.  I got an email from the people with MCC who are in South Africa telling us that it was snowing everywhere.  They were quite right about that.  I looked on the internet for news and found this article.  There was snow in every state of South Africa, with more on the way.  It snows across the country of South Africa only once and a while.  While it looks like where I am going in Lesotho has had snow over the last few days.  It might be a wintery wonderland when I get there.